Supreme Court Orders Review of Mississippi Drug Cases

The U.S. Supreme Court has kicked back five Mississippi drug cases to an appeals court. It wants the appeals court to reconsider the sentencing for cocaine convictions.

The drug cases all came out of the U.S. District Court in North Mississippi over the past couple of years.

In June, the nation's high court ruled people who committed crack cocaine crimes before more lenient penalties took effect and received their prison sentence afterward should benefit from the new rules.

The Supreme Court said the courts should have used the new law for sentencing.

The Mississippi cases were among about a dozen the Supreme Court this week returned to appeals courts around the country.

In each Mississippi case, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upheld the conviction and sentence.

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